In the state of Chiapas in Mexico, a Mayan region adjacent to the Guatemalan border, a project by women for women transcends the mere act of making products or operating a business. Yet, why and how we do it, is what determines the true degree of its impact. Amparo has worked with Trama for over 23 years and is based at the Trama office in Xela, coordinating the work of the 100 weavers across the highlands of Guatemala.The growing surge of socially impactful collaboration is a positive trend of our time. Amparo learnt to weave to support her family and has devoted her life to empowering other women through weaving to support themselves, their families and their communities.Īs Amparo can read, write and speak in Spanish, she considers herself lucky since the majority of weavers represented by Trama Textiles is illiterate. Amparo’s father died when she was 11 years old, leaving her mother and siblings destitute. Oralia lives in Xela with her family, and in addition to managing the Trama cooperative, she teaches weaving at the Trama office.Īmparo is the president of Trama Textiles, and is passionate about improving opportunities and livelihood for women. Oralia joined Trama as a teenager, encouraged to pursue Trama’s mission as her father was passionate about helping women affected by the civil war. For Oralia, paying women a fair wage for their products is rewarding, as it has a direct impact on empowering women within the community.
Ancient mayan backstrap loom update#
Every three years, Trama hosts an assembly where all the women vote on the new presidents and update their constitution.Īs the current vice president of Trama Textiles, Oralia’s dream is to fully employ the 100 women who work with Trama.
Every three months, the women gather at the shop in Quetzaltenango to review the success of Trama Textiles and to discuss potential improvements. Her job is to communicate with Trama to coordinate the delivery of the weaving, and to ensure each weaver is receiving a good price for her work. President: Amparo de León de RubioĮach village that works with Trama Textiles also has their own elected representative. Trama Textiles is an 100% worker owned and run cooperative. Our mission is to create work for fair wages for the women of Guatemala, to support our families and communities, and to preserve and develop our cultural traditions by maintaining our textile arts and their histories.
This guarantees both a fair wage and a reliable source of income for the women in our communities, meaning that they can support themselves and their families in regions where work is hard to find. Able to communicate in their own Maya dialects, our weavers decide on the price of each product and are paid up front. In other words: making a living from their art can be challenging. Despite their expertise, as many of our weavers don’t speak Spanish they are often forced to sell their products to middlemen for very low prices. Some of the pieces worn by the women are so intricate they can take months to make. Across Guatemala, each Maya town has its own unique traje (traditional dress) which distinguishes it from another. Weaving is a century-old Maya art which remains a fundamental part of Maya identity today. Since then, our cooperative has provided a sense of purpose and empowerment and enabled the possibility of a brighter future. This lead to the birth of Trama Textiles. As a result, the women across our communities united and decided to use their skills as weavers to support themselves and their families. During this period, many Maya men were lost: grandfathers, fathers, brothers and sons. Our cooperative was formed in 1988 after some of the most devastating years of the Guatemalan civil war. We also collaborate with various individual weavers and artisans across the country who play a crucial role in Trama’s success. We work directly with 100 women from 17 weaving communities across 5 regions in the Western Highlands Sololá, Huehuetenango, Sacatepéquez, Quetzaltenango and Quiché. Trama Textiles is a cooperative of female Maya backstrap loom weavers across Guatemala.
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